1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oral and maxillofacial instruments, and particularly to a curved distractor for oral and maxillofacial reconstruction providing more anatomical conformity for the reconstruction, easy access for regular adjustments, and light weight for comfort and ease of manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most common surgical procedures in alveolar defects repair requires bone augmentation for aesthetic and functional requirements to furnish a foundation to complete dental reconstruction, such as dental implants. Unfortunately, some patients do not have the requisite physiological foundation for the implants. Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is a type of procedure that remedies such deficiencies by inducing additional or new bone and soft tissue growth at the target area. A typical DO procedure augments bone and soft tissues by transecting the target area with the use of a distractor device that maintains a preselected separation between the transected sections. The distractor is incrementally activated over time until the desired separation and induced growth is reached in the distracted area.
Current distractors applied in the anterior alveolar maxillary and mandibular defects are usually constrained to distract the bone in a straight line, tend to be heavy with relatively large components, and/or designed with components submerged under the submucosal layers. These factors may lead to a final reconstruction that does not comply with the correct curvature of the jar arch, patient discomfort, or unforeseen complications. Difficulties in solving problems with distractor bar activation and difficulties in performing adjustments may also arise from the submerged portions of the typical distractor due to limited accessibility. Moreover, the area for reconstruction may not follow a curvilinear line.
Thus, a curved alveolar bone distractor solving the aforementioned problems is desired.